Candace Scott Returns $20,000 To Chase Bank in College Station, Texas

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- An unemployed teacher was driving home after dropping her cat off at a veterinarian when she noticed a bag on the street. She stopped but doubted it contained anything, but soon discovered the bag was holding about $20,000.

Candace Scott said the bag had a Chase bank label, so she promptly delivered it to a nearby branch. She pounded on the glass around 8 a.m. Tuesday to get the branch manager to come to the door before the bank opened for business, The Eagle newspaper reported. The banker thanked Scott for returning the cash.

"She told me I'm the most honest person in the world, and I said 'or the dumbest,'" Scott said.

Scott never knew exactly how much money she returned. Greg Hassell, a Houston-based spokesman for Chase, said Wednesday that the bag contained about $20,000. He declined to release further details citing courier security.

Scott, a former middle school teacher in College Station, at first doubted the bag contained anything worth saving.

"It looked like a gallon-size baggie with a blue zipper on top," Scott said. "It just barely caught my eye, and I thought it was money, then was like, 'Nah, it's probably a dirty diaper.'"

Scott circled back in time to see a dump truck run over the bag in the middle of the left turn lane. She then stopped and picked up the bag.

"There were two huge bundles of hundred-dollar bills wrapped in rubber bands," Scott said. "The bag had ripped open because of the dump truck, but other than that it was just laying there."

Then she noticed the Chase label on the bag and headed about a block away to a bank branch, knocking on the glass until the manager walked to the door.

"(The bank manager) thought I had been in an accident or somebody had mugged me," Scott said. "I told her 'I have y'all's money. She said 'What?' and then she thought I was a crazy person. I told her to stay right there while I got it. She saw it and opened that door up as fast as she could."